Rory McIlroy nearly missed his tee time in the last big event he played at Medinah. He can only laugh about it now.

The moment of infamy came in the 2012 Ryder Cup. McIlroy didn’t account for a time change and didn’t realize he needed to be at Medinah until someone called him. He needed a police escort to barely make it in time for a singles match against American Keegan Bradley.

McIlroy didn’t get a warmup on the range but still beat Bradley 3 and 1. He was embarrassed about his tardiness, but not about the result.

“Hopefully I won’t need (the escort) this time,’’ he said. “I’m staying a little closer to the course. That was a long time ago. I’ve played in three Ryder Cups since then, and a lot of things have happened during that time.’’

Among them was his marriage to Erica Stoll, a former PGA of America employee who was the director of transportation during the Medinah Ryder Cup. They married in 2017.

McIlroy won the FedEx Cup in 2016 and is third in the standings going into the BMW Championship, trailing Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, winner of The Northern Trust – the first playoff event on Sunday. McIlroy is happy this year’s PGA Tour’s playoff series has been reduced from four to three tournaments.

“That’s based on the position I’m in,’’ he said. “But I’ve also got to play a tournament in Switzerland the week after its over, so it’ll be four tournaments in a row for me. The FedEx Cup is more of a sprint now, but it’s something you really want to win.’’

The path to doing that is a little different this year, with the format assuring that the winner of next week’s Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta already assured of winning the FedEx Cup.

“The year I won was the year I had my worst ranking (36th) going in,’’ said McIlroy. “That year I won in Boston and the Tour Championship. But he also won two playoff events in 2012 and didn’t win the FedEx Cup. Brandt Snedeker beat him out that year.

“With 13 top-10s and two wins, this has been my most consistent year by far,’’ he said. “But the narrative has become that consistency isn’t valued as much as it once was. That’s true of all sports.’’

“You just have to appreciate the FedEx Cup for what it is,’’ summed up McIlroy. “Patrick Reed was way back. Then he won last week and came all the way up to second. But I sort of like the position I’m in.’’

The gates of Medinah Country Club open to the public for the first time since 2012 today. This week’s big event, the BMW Championship, will be much different than the last one held there – a devastating loss for Team USA in the Ryder Cup matches against Europe.

The BMW is a 70-player, 72-hole no-cut stroke play event that is the next-to-the-last event of the PGA Tour’s 2018-19 season. It’s also a FedEx Cup Playoff event with only the top 30 in the standings after it ends on Sunday advancing to the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta next week.

Those 70 players competing at Medinah won’t include Kevin Streelman, Chicago’s best PGA Tour player, or established stars like Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson or Henrik Stenson. They couldn’t stay or climb into the top 70 after The Northern Trust, first of this year’s three-tournament playoff series. It concluded with Patrick Reed’s victory on Sunday at Liberty National in New Jersey.

The win enabled Reed to climb to No. 2 in the FedEx standings behind Brooks Koepka.

Medinah might also be missing Tiger Woods with the first tee shot is hit on Thursday. He withdrew after one disappointing round at The Northern Trust, citing an oblique injury and said then that he was hopeful of playing at Medinah. His status is still uncertain.

Because of his WD last week Woods slipped from No. 28 to No. 38 in the FedEx Cup standings. If he doesn’t play at Medinah his season is over. If he does play he’ll need a goods finish to qualify for The Tour Championship, an event he won last year.

All that is plenty to digest in the short-term, but there’s more to it than that.

The PGA will have a playoff event in the Chicago area in 2020. The WGA has Aug. 20-23 dates for next year and a site secured at Olympia Fields, a private club in the far south suburbs with a tournament history almost as rich as Medinah’s.

Putting on a PGA Tour event is an expensive proposition, and BMW did it for 12 years (this will be the 13th). Prize money this week is $9,250,000, which is much more than that of a standing tour stop. The John Deere Classic, Illinois’ other PGA Tour event which will hold its 50th anniversary staging in 2020, had a purse of $6 million for its last staging in July.

The WGA, which has been putting on tournaments since 1899, has been boosting its profile in recent years. The organization, which raises money for its Evans Scholars program, took over management of the two Women’s Western Golf Association’s amateur events and a tournament on the Korn Ferry (former Web.com) Tour this year. The organization is also building a new headquarters building in Glenview.

WGA leadership, however, has been tight-lipped about the BMW tourney’s future beyond the announcement of Olympia Fields as the next site. That, however, was a significant disclosure in that it broke a recent policy of shifting the tournament in and out of the Chicago area every other year. Prior to taking playoff status Chicago’s PGA event was an annual thing. It was played, as the Western Open, at a variety of Chicago courses beginning in 1962.

From 1974 to 1990 the home base was all-male Butler National, in Oak Brook. From 1991 to 2006 it was played at Lemont’s Cog Hill, Chicago’s biggest public facility. Then came the switch in dates – the Western was traditionally played over the Fourth of July weekend at that time – and the name change to reflect BMW’s involvement.

As a fall event the BMW Championship has rotated in and out of Chicago since 2012 and Medinah took it on for the first time this year. Medinah has hosted bigger events than the BMW Championship, but the club has never been interested in giving up its course for a big event on an annual basis.

In addition to the Ryder Cup Medinah’s No. 3 course has hosted three U.S. Opens (1949, 1975, 1990) and two PGA Championships (1999, 2006). Woods won both of the PGAs contested there.

HERE IS THE BMW CHAMIONSHIP WINNERS AND SITE.

2007 – Tiger Woods, Cog Hill.

2008 – Camilo Villegas, Bellerive (St. Louis).

2009 – Tiger Woods, Cog Hill.

2010 – Dustin Johnson, Cog Hill.

2011 – Justin Rose, Cog Hill.

2012 – Rory McIlroy, Crook Stick (Indianapolis).

2013 – Zach Johnson, Cog Hill.

2014 – Billy Horschel, Cherry Hills (Denver).

2015 – Jason Day, Conway Farms.

2016 – Dustin Johnson, Crooked Stick.

2017 – Marc Leishman, Conway Farms.

2018 – Keegan Bradley, Aronimink (Philadelphia).

David Cooke became the 13th player to claim multiple wins in the Illinois Open on Wednesday and – like his first win in 2015 – this latest one was basically no contest.

Cooke won by five strokes when the tournament was held at Royal Melbourne, in Long Grove, four years ago and his 16-under-par score there was the second best in the tourney’s 70-year history.

His score and victory margin weren’t quite as impressive on Wednesday at The Glen Club, in Glenview, but he was still the dominant player in the field. Cooke was a four-shot winner over Northbrook’s Nick Hardy after posting a 13-under-par 203. He shot 67 at Ridgemoor on Monday and 69- 67 in his two rounds at The Glen Club.

“David played great this week,’’ said Hardy, whose 66 was the low score of the final round. “He got off to a good start at Ridgemoor (the alternate course for the finals) and never looked back.’’

Hardy, in his rookie season as a professional, stumbled in with a par 72 at Ridgemoor and shot 69-66 at The Glen. He was the tourney’s low amateur in 2016 and joint runner-up in 2017 before entering the professional ranks.

Cooke, meanwhile, joined some select company in the history of the premier championship for Illinois residents. Only Gary Pinns (five titles), Mike Small (four) and Dick Hart and Marty Schiene (three each) have more Illinois Open wins than Cooke.

Two-time winners beside Cooke were Jack Bell, Roy Biancalana, Emil Esposito, Gary Hallberg, Bob Harris, Bill Ogden, Rick Ten Broeck and Felice Torza. Torza won the first staging of the tournament in 1950.

Cooke’s second title came much differently than his first. He was an amateur when he won at Royal Melbourne, and he did it with a 63 in the final round. That helped land Cooke one of his first endorsement contracts, with Chicago-based Wilson Sporting Goods.

“It’s great to win as a pro. It makes me feel I’m headed in the right direction,’’ said Cooke. “In the first one I was more caught by surprise. I had never won anything in Illinois at that time, and I don’t think (the Illinois PGA officials organizing the event) realized who I was when they put me on the tee sheet. That made me mad, in a sense.’’

While Wednesday’s second win came off a workmanlike effort, the first one was much more emotional. It came just eight months after the death of Cooke’s younger brother Chad. He was 20 when he passed away from an apparent heart disorder while playing in a pickup basketball game at Charleston Southern.

David Cooke, 26, grew up in Bolingbrook and won some college tournaments while attending North Carolina State. While there he met Claire Corbitt, and they’ll be married in Asheville, N.C. on Saturday to climax a most memorable week. Cooke didn’t let the pending wedding distract him from business on the course.

“We had everything set up and ready to go,’’ he said. That freed him up to protect the three-stroke lead he had when the day started, and no player cut into that margin in the final 18. Cooke’s goal for the final round was to go bogey-free, and he did it.

The reward was a tournament record first-place check of $23,768, and the overall purse of $120,000 was also an Illinois Open best. There were 32 professionals and 20 amateurs in Wednesday’s final round.

Cooke will use at least some of his prize money to finance another run at the European PGA Tour’s qualifying tournament in November. He earned conditional status last year but only got into two tournaments. In opting for Europe instead of the PGA Tour Cooke is taking the same approach as current world No. 1 Brooks Koepka did when he was at that stage of his career.

“The money will help out at Q-School,’’ said Cooke. “I wasn’t sure I was going to go, or how I was going to pay for it.’’

He knows now.

Bolingbrook’s David Cooke could win the 70th Illinois Open today. He enters the final round at The Glen Club, in Glenview, with a three-stroke lead but he might have other things on his mind.

Cooke, who won the tournament in 2015 when he was still an amateur, will catch a flight to North Carolina on Wednesday night. On Saturday he gets married to Claire Corbitt in Asheville. They met as students at North Carolina State.

First things first, though.

The Illinois Open is the premier tournament for state residents and, if he wins today, Cooke would become the tourney’s first repeat champion since Illinois coach Mike Small won three in a row from 2005-07.

Small, still seeking that record-tying fifth title in the tournament that would tie him with Gary Pinns, was one of Cooke’s playing partners in Tuesday’s second round.

Finishing his round with a 5-iron from 200 yards that covered the flagstick on the par-5 eighteenth hole, Cooke’s concluding two-putt birdie gave him a 69 for a 36-hole score of 8-under-par 136. Tee-K Kelly, the two-time Illinois State Amateur champion from Wheaton, and East Peoria amateur David Perkins are three shots behind entering the final round of the 54-hole championship.

Kelly, already a winner as a pro on the PGA Tour’s Latinoamerica circuit, might be the more likely challenger in the final round. He knows Cooke very well.

“We go way back. David (Cooke) was at Purdue during my freshman year at Ohio State,’’ said Kelly. “Now we share the same agent (Barry Meister) and same coach (John Perna).’’

Perkins, an Illinois State player, blew a six-stroke lead in the final round of the Illinois State Amateur at Cantigny, in Wheaton, last month but is in position to make amends in the Illinois Open.

Cooke, who transferred to North Carolina State, won his first Illinois Open when he was still a student there.

“It gave me confidence because I was still wondering what career path to take,’’ said Cooke. After college he tried the Latineamerica tour last year and then earned full status on the European Challenge Tour.

Perkins had a dazzling start Tuesday, going eagle-birdie-par-birdie that triggered the day’s low round – a 65. The last birdie of Perkins’ hot streak stopped a foot away on a par-3. As good as Perkins was, he could only get in position to possibly give Cooke a run in the final round.

Kelly, trying to become only the 11th player to post wins in both the Illinois State Amateur and Illinois Open, opened the tournament with a bang on Monday when he went eagle-birdie on the first two holes at Ridgemoor, the alternate course for the finals. He held the tournament lead late Tuesday until putting his tee shot in the water at the par-3 seventh at The Glen, resulting in a double bogey.

Kelly has put that mishap behind him.

“I’m super comfortable with this golf course right now,’’ said Kelly. “It’s how we all wanted it to play, and the weather is perfect. It should be a fun day tomorrow.’’

Frank Hohenadel, the head pro at Mistwood in Romeoville, is a stroke further behind Kelly and Perkins in fourth and the five-man group tied for fifth includes two of Small’s Illini players — recent graduate Nick Hardy and current player Tommy Kuhl.

Preferring to compete on the PGA Tour’s Korn Ferry circuit, Vince India — last year’s champion — didn’t defend his title. Today’s final round will feature 52 players – the 32 pros and 20 amateurs who survived the 36-hole cut. It came at 3-over par 147.

The final round starts at 8 a.m. with Cooke, Kelly and Perkins teeing off last at 11:07 a.m.

The Illinois PGA, in an effort to increase entries, instituted a two-course format for the finals of the Illinois Open in 2015. It allowed for a 264-player field for the 54-hole finals instead of the traditional 156 after the entries – usually around 700 — were whittled down through a series of state-wide qualifying rounds.

Carrie Williams, the IPGA executive director, said entries have increased by about 20 percent since the change, and that isn’t all.

A new course was needed for the first two rounds of the finals to accommodate the additional players. The Glen Club, in Glenview, has remained the main course. That’s where the IPGA headquarters is located. Selection of the backup course added intrigued to the championship – and that was certainly the case when the tourney began its 70th anniversary staging on Monday.

The first-round pairings suggested that more proven players were starting at Ridgemoor, but the leader at day’s end was Chris Boyle, an assistant professional at Balmoral Woods in Crete. He posted a 7-under-par 65 at The Glen Club and held a two-stroke lead over David Cooke, the tourney’s champion in 2015 who played his first round at Ridgemoor. The players switch courses for today’s Round 2 and those who survive the 36-hole cut will decide the title at The Glen on Wednesday.

Brad Slocum, the IPGA tournament director, likes the contrasting styles of the two venues.

“One (Ridgemoor) is a more tree-lined classic design that requires more accuracy off the tee,’’ said Slocum. “Glen Club is firmer, faster and longer.’’

The courses played almost equally as difficult in the first round. Of the 19 who bettered par 10 did it at Ridgemoor. Trailing Boyle and Cooke in a three-way tie for third were two-time Illinois State Amateur champion Tee-K Kelly, Chicago’s Justin Regnier and Glen Ellyn’s Dave Pecorella. Kelly shot 69 at Ridgemoor while Regnier and Pecorella did it at The Glen.

Ridgemoor, a Chicago club that’s a 20-minute drive from The Glen, is being used as a tournament site for the first time since 2003, when the IPGA held a stroke play event there. Ridgemoor’s selection comes after Royal Melbourne in Long Grove (2015), Royal Fox in St. Charles (2016), Briarwood in Deerfield (2017) and Ravinia Green in Riverwoods (2018) were used in previous years.

“I went to the board and pushed for this’’ said Nick Pease, Ridgemoor’s head professional. “It was important to showcase our course since the renovation.’’

Libertyville course architect Rick Jacobson supervised the updating of the course in 2015. It’s not the same course that was in the national spotlight in 1942 for what some believe was a U.S. Open but was never recognized as such by the U.S. Golf Association.

The controversial tournament was played during World War II and champion Ben Hogan believed it had enough similarities to warrant its declaration as an official U.S. Open. If that had been the case Hogan would have a record five U.S. Open wins. As it is, he’s tied with Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus with four titles.

Hogan’s low round of that week – a 62 – remains the Ridgemoor course record though it was tied 42 years later by Bob Zender, who came through the Chicago amateur ranks before spending several seasons on the PGA Tour.

SILVIS, IL. – The Las Vegas odds-makers didn’t believe experience mattered much when they sized up the John Deere Classic field earlier this week. The top five betting favorites – Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Joaquin Niemann, Sunglae Im and Matthew Wolff — are all between the ages of 20 and 22.

But what do those odds-makers know anyway?

Those young guns may have played well lately on the PGA Tour, and the JDC is a tournament known for producing first-time champions. Of the young hotshots, though, the best entering Sunday’s final round is Morikawa and he’s in a tie for 12th, four strokes behind co-leaders Cameron Tringale and Andrew Landry.

While Tringale and Landry hit the 54-hole stop at TPC Deere Run at 16-under-par 197 on Saturday, their status is precarious at best. Six others are within two shots of the lead, and that group includes a couple of battled hardened veterans who were among golf’s elite not too long ago.

Bill Haas, who posted Saturday’s best score with a 7-under-par 64, was the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup champion in 2011. He’s a shot behind the co-leaders and Ryan Moore, who finished his third round birdie-eagle-birdie, is one swing behind Haas.

Moore’s win in the 2016 JDC triggered his selection to the U.S. Ryder Cup team, and he went on to score the winning point against the Europeans that year. His win in the JDC, in effect, helped Moore become a national hero – at least for awhile.

“It (winning at TPC Deere Run) definitely kick-started that run, and I played good, solid golf from there all the way through the Ryder Cup,’’ said Moore.

A win Sunday wouldn’t have the same effect, since it’ll be Moore’s last competitive round for awhile. He’s skipping next week’s British Open because his wife is expecting their third child.

“I’m in an on-call situation right here,’’ said Moore. “She’s still a few weeks out, so it was comfortable being here. I won’t be going to the British because that’s just way too far away and I would not feel comfortable being that far away a few weeks with baby No. 3 is on the way.’’

Haas posted his lowest round of the year on Saturday, and it gave him a big lift.

“I certainly haven’t been seeing many mid-60 rounds in the last two years,’’ he said. “The game is not easy. It’s been beating me most weeks. Hopefully if I keep working hard days like this will happen.’’

Haas, now 37, realizes the landscape of the PGA Tour is changing. Players are getting younger and younger.

“We’re starting to see maybe the trend is younger is better,’’ he said. “The average age on Tour has gone down since I was a rookie Experience doesn’t seem to hold as much weight. I’m just going to have to play my game, and hopefully it’s enough.’’

Co-leaders Tringale and Landry aren’t exactly kids, either. Both are 31, but they’re careers haven’t been as noteworthy. Landry’s only win was at the Valero Texas Open last year, but he’s had only one top-10 finish this season.

Tringale has gone winless in 10 years on the circuit. This year he’s tied for fifth twice, the last time at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit two weeks ago.

Landry had the lead at the turn on Saturday but made bogeys at Nos. 11 and 12. He rallied with three birdies after that, though.

“I just got tired,’’ said Landry. “It was really hot out there. My golf swing started feeling a little bit shaky, my body was not really turning and I was arming it out there rather than really hitting solid shots.’’

He’ll take precautions to avoid that repeating itself in the final round.

“I need to bring more food in the bag, drink more water,’’ he said. Landry may also have to deal with being a relatively new father. His son, just 18 months old, and travels with him.

“It’s absolutely hectic. I’m about to leave here and get ready for bedtime for him,’’ said Landry. “It’s good to get off the course, just forget about everything and get away from the game. He’s a blessing.’’

But Landry still hasn’t figured out how to balance family life with tournament golf.

“Whenever someone does figure it out, please let me know because I would live to know,’’ he said.

TPC Deere Run’s par-5 tenth hole drew a bigger gallery than usual on Saturday when Lucas Glover arrived at the tee. Glover made the tourney’s first double-eagle in 19 years there on Friday and put his drive in the fairway again. He went for the green in two again, got within 12 feet and holed his putt for eagle.

SILVIS, IL. – Luke Donald is seven years removed from being the world’s No. 1 golfer, but he’s showing signs of regaining the form that made him that good, and that’s saying a lot.

Donald was sidelined for nearly a year with back problems. During the time off he lost his PGA Tour membership but he’s on the way to regaining it. His play over the first two rounds of the John Deere Classic is proof of that.

Back-to-back 68s have Donald at 6-under-par 136 for the first 36 holes at TPC Deere Run. He’s safely inside the cut line entering Saturday’s third round, though he’s a distant seven strokes behind leader Jhonattan Vegas.

Vegas, from Venezuela, matched the best round of the tournament with his 9-under-par 62 on Friday and hit the halfway stop at 13-under-par 129. He’s one swing ahead of Andrew Landry and two in front of Lucas Glover, who made the shot of the day. He holed his second shot from 255 yards on the par-5 tenth for an albatross.en route to posting a 64. It was the first double eagle at the JDC since 2000 – Frank Lickliter had one at No. 2 that year — but the seventh on the PGA Tour this season.

Donald, 41, starred at Northwestern before rising to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings, a status he held for 55 weeks between 2011 and 2012. During most of that time he lived at least part-time in Northfield, and he is the great Chicago hope in this year’s JDC.

“We’ve had a place in Jupiter, Florida, since 2006,’’ said Donald. “For a few years we’d just go there in the winter but when my girls started in school we had to make a decision and Jupiter won out because of the weather. I loved that house, but we were spending less and less time in Chicago.’’

The Northfield house was sold a few months ago as Donald was starting to regain his form. His game isn’t all there yet, but it’s getting there.

“I feel pretty solid,’’ he said. “A back issue is always something you have to manage, but I’ve had no issues on the course. The last time I did was at the Sony (in Hawaii in January) and I took some time off after that.’’

He returned in March at the Valspar Championship, in Florida, and tied for ninth – his best finish since resuming tournament play. His fitness level is improving now. As proof of that he’s survived the 36-hole cut in three straight tournaments and is hopeful of a good finish at the JDC to get more FedEx points towards regaining full playing privileges.

“My game is in a pretty good place,’’ he said. “Thirteen birdies in the first two days is a good sign that my confidence is coming back. I hadn’t played here since 2003. After that I was a European Tour member and played the Scottish (Open) before The (British) Open. It’s nice to be back here. This is a good course for me. You hit lots of wedges and it’s not overly long.’’

After this weekend Donald won’t play again until the Wyndham Championship, in North Carolina, Aug. 1-4 a week before the FedEx Cup Playoffs begin. Donald won’t get into next week’s British Open unless he wins on Sunday and he will need two very solid finishes to have a chance of making it into the PGA Tour’s postseason series.

Chances of Donald playing in either the British or FedEx Playoffs are slim, but regaining full membership isn’t. Mizuno, his equipment company since 2004, has no doubts Donald will be playing full-time again. He was awarded a new contract in January, months before his comeback was in full swing.

“I’ll have three or four starts after the Wyndham to get enough points, and I might take a money list exemption to play fully next year so I won’t have to worry about it,’’ said Donald.

In the meantime he’s in the big pack chasing Vegas, who holed over 100 feet of putts on Saturday in a bogey-free round that included nine birdies.

“It was probably the best I’ve felt all year,’’ said Vegas. “I hit the ball extremely well. I was obviously super solid from the beginning all the way to the end. Ball-striking was impeccable. I can’t wait for the weekend. The course is usually soft, and it’s been a little firmer because of the warm conditions. It’s the best I’ve ever seen it.’’

Vegas posted his round in the morning and Landry caught him in the afternoon. He fell a stroke back when his second shot from the rough on No. 6 hit a tree. That shot, on his 15th hole of the day, led to a bogey and Landry finished with a 65.

SILVIS, IL. – The 49th John Deere Classic meant the return of the PGA Tour to Illinois for the first time in 2019, but Thursday’s opening round had a different feel to it.

There was the usual abundance of low scoring, with the best saved for last. Mexico’s Roberto Diaz, in the last threesome to tee off, shot a 9-under-par 62 to open a two-stroke lead over Adam Long and Russell Henley after Round 1. Still, notable stars of the past were either missing or off form.

There was no Steve Stricker, a three-time winner and loyal JDC supporter who opted to play in the Bridgestone Constellation Senior Players Championship instead. Two-time winner Jordan Spieth thought about coming but didn’t, and there hasn’t much excitement over the defending champion, Michael Kim.

Kim set scoring records in his win at TPC Deere Run last year but took a string of 18 consecutive missed cuts into his title defense. He didn’t show signs of shaking his slump, posting a 73. Then there was Zach Johnson, the face of the tournament on many levels. He shot 72, his first over-par round in the JDC since 2008. His streak of 41 in a row at par or better came to an end.

And finally there was the unusual shortage of local PGA Tour players. Not even Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman was on hand – and the scenario surrounding his absence from the $6 million event was a weird one.

Streelman had just won Monday’s Rockford Pro-Am, a fixture around John Deere Classic time, at the Aldeen course in Rockford. After shooting a 6-under-par 66 there he made a quick check of his emails and found a most interesting one.

It read: “There has been a withdrawal from The Open. There is a space for you if you’d like to play? Thanks.’’

Jonathan Tippletts-Aylmer, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club’s entries manager, had sent it and Streelman was at a loss for words.

“My mind’s everywhere,’’ he said then.

And it was. Streelman had already committed to the JDC, an event he had played in eight times since 2009. Coming off his best finish in the tournament (a tie for seventh) last year, Streelman has been a JDC mainstay.

The news of the player withdrawal – it was John Daly, who pulled out because he wasn’t allowed to use a cart – made national news. Streelman’s elevation to the field didn’t. He got into the British off his place on the Official World Golf Rankings, where he is No. 85.

Streelman was left with decisions to make on the fly. He could have still played in the JDC because tournament director Clair Peterson provides a charter flight to the British site immediately after his tournament ends. Streelman, though, needed to get his passport and proper clothing. Both were at his home in Arizona, and he also needed to line up a caddie for next week because his regular bag-toter wasn’t going to make the trip..

So, Streelman made a heart-felt apology to Peterson before withdrawing from the JDC, then had a session with swing instructor Jim (Doc) Suttie at Black Sheep, in Sugar Grove, picked up his necessities in Arizona and headed across the pond for more on-site preparation there. Streelman has played in five British Opens, the last in 2015, and never did better than a tie for 54th place at Royal Liverpool the year before that.

Peterson’s charter flight will take off on Sunday, but will be only about half-full. In 2010 a second charter flight was needed to get all the JDC participants to St. Andrews but only about 60 will travel to Royal Portrush on Sunday night.

Getting on that plane isn’t Diaz’ main concern, however.

“My goal right now isn’t to get into the British Open,’’ he said. “That’s not in my mind right now. It’s to get enough points to make it into the (FedEx Cup) playoffs. There are four events left, and this is crunch time.’’

Diaz, nicknamed Porky, needs to get into the top 125 in the FedEx standings to make it into the first playoff event. He is now No. 158. Diaz’ previous best round on the PGA Tour was a 65. In the last five rounds on the PGA Tour a player has posted a 62, Diaz being the most recent.

Long and Henley would like to be on the jet. Long, with a morning tee time, won the Desert Classic in California in January, then missed 11 cuts in the next 17 tournaments including the last three in a row. Henley, an afternoon starter, is trying to snap a string of four straight missed cuts.

Henley was paired with former world No. 1 Luke Donald, who is in the JDC field for the first time since 2003. He posted a 3-under 68.

The Illinois State Amateur doesn’t have a home course. It moves around the state annually, but in the last two decades one location has become a favorite. Cantigny, in Wheaton, has hosted four times in the last 22 years and will be the site for the tourney’s 89th staging from July 16-18.

“For us amateur golf has always been a big deal,’’ said Patrick Lynch, Cantigny’s head professional and a staff member since 1998. “We try to support it as best we can.’’

Cantigny has 27 holes plus the nearby Youth Links, which has 1,500 in its programs

“That’s a huge number,’’ said Lynch. “We run the full gamut in youth and amateur golf, and that’s very important for the growth of the game.’’

And for the development of its players. In 2014, the last time the State Amateur was played at Cantigny, four of the top seven finishers were connected with the public facility in some way or another. Ray Knoll, the champion that year, got his start in golf on the Youth Links when he was 5 years old.

The State Am is a 72-hole test that climaxes with a 36-hole final day. It’s always filled with great drama, and this year’s version figures to be a wide-open affair with recent stars Tee-K Kelly, Nick Hardy and Patrick Flavin now in the professional ranks and Spring Grove’s Jordan Hahn, the winner in 2018 at Bloomington Country Club, was not among the entries.

Hahn, a tower of strength at 6-foot-8, shot a tournament record 61 while finishing second to Flavin at Calumet Country Club, in Homewood, in 2017 before getting the victory a year later. Hahn completed a solid collegiate career at Wisconsin in the spring and his future plans in golf haven’t been announced.

The return to Cantigny will stir memories of great tournaments of the past. The course, designed by the late Roger Packard, opened in 1989. Golf Digest tabbed Cantigny the Best New Course in America that year, the first in a long list of honors the facility has received. Cantigny’s Woodside and Lakeside nines will again be used for the tournament. Assuming the championship tees are used, the finalists with face a 7,055-yard, par-72 course.

Though Cantigny hosted two national championships – the 2006 Western Amateur and 2007 U.S. Amateur Public Links – the course’s tournament resume started with the State Am of 1996. Mark Small, then a 33-year old architect from Frankfort, won the title that year with a two-stroke victory over former University of Illinois golfer D.W. Bruce.

Small, who posted a 5-under-par 283 score for the 72 holes, eventually spent several years as a professional. He later decided to regain his amateur status and contended in another State Am in 2011.

The tournament returned to Cantigny in 2002 with the golf not nearly as impressive as it had been six years earlier. Bloomington’s Todd Mitchell, a former shortstop in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, needed only a 7-over-par 291 to win the title but it was the start of big things golf-wise for him.

Mitchell went on to win a record five Illinois Mid-Amateur titles and was the runner-up in the 2008 U.S. Mid-Amateur. Mitchell continues to be a factor in state play. He was the CDGA Player of the Year four times between 2006 and 2016 and won the Central Illinois Player of the Year Award eight times from 2003 to 2013, when the award was discontinued.

Zach Barlow was a collegiate hotshot for Illinois when he won at Cantigny in 2008. A 2010 Illinois graduate, Barlow also won the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational that year and was the Western Amateur runner-up in 2009. Now he’s in his fifth season as the assistant to Illini head coach Mike Small.

The most exciting of the Cantigny State Ams came in 2014 when Knoll, preparing to enter his sophomore year at Iowa, beat Nick Hardy, awaiting his freshman year at Illinois, in a four-hole playoff. Both were 8-under-par in the regulation 72 holes with Hardy shooting 66-69 in the double round final day before losing in extra holes.

Hardy rebounded, though. He set the tournament scoring record with a sizzling 28-under-par 260 in winning the tourney by 10 shots two years later at St. Charles Country Club.

The starting field at Cantigny will be finalized after eight state-wide qualifying rounds, to be played from June 10-19. The field will be cut to the low 35 and ties after the first two rounds at Cantigny.